Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 12 Site Selection
Six hundred square meters of plastic film sounds like a lot, but if you roll it up, it only weighs a little over a hundred pounds. It won't take up much space on a horse-drawn cart.

After packing the plastic film, Li Zhe didn't linger. He said goodbye to Section Chief Song, got into the carriage, and left the plastic factory.

Section Chief Song stood at the store entrance, waving goodbye.

Chen Juan clutched the invoice book in her hand. The goods were clearly sold for 3,000 yuan, but they were taken away for 2,400 yuan. There was a difference of 600 yuan. As for the 100,000 square meters of plastic film, it was still nowhere to be found. Had she been cheated?

It's not so much a scam as the factory doesn't lose money; it's just that they earn very little, so it feels more like they were tricked.

She glanced at Section Chief Song and hesitated, "Section Chief, something feels off to me. Is this guy unreliable?"

Section Chief Song knew what she wanted to say, but his intuition told him... that was right, "Stop overthinking it, go do your thing."

Chen Juan pursed her lips, turned around and went back to the store.

……

Zhao Tiezhu drove the carriage very fast, as if afraid that someone was chasing after him.

Only after the plastic factory disappeared from sight did Zhao Tiezhu breathe a sigh of relief. "Brother, I came to the plastic factory with a lot of people to pick up goods, and none of them could negotiate the price. The salespeople here are very arrogant; they'll say whatever price they want."

You just casually said a few words and got a 600 yuan discount—that's unprecedented! Hey, how many Xianghe meat pies would that cost?

"Exactly one thousand Xianghe meat pies, no more, no less." Li Zhe's smile faded, and he said seriously, "I'm not lying to them, I'm telling the truth."

This year's trial planting in the winter-warm greenhouse was successful, so I have the capital to expand the planting scale next year, with at least 200 mu (approximately 33 acres) of greenhouses; if the trial planting is unsuccessful, then there is a problem with the plastic film.”

Zhao Tiezhu was stunned. It seemed that this was indeed the case. So who really benefited?
Daying Village, Li Family.

Old Li, wearing a ripped white vest, was resting in the shade of a locust tree, his brows furrowed, staring blankly ahead.

He didn't support his son's plan to grow crops in winter-warm greenhouses, but seeing his son's enthusiasm, he didn't completely oppose it.

The cucumber seeds and old newspapers aren't worth much, so it doesn't matter if we lose money.

Things are different now. My son is serious about it. He's buying building materials and digging greenhouses. Once he's spent several thousand yuan, there's no turning back.

Thinking about his wife's attitude, Lao Li felt caught in the middle. "It's clearly the two of you who have different ideas, so why are you both making things difficult for me?"

Isn't this bullying?

Two bad guys!
If you ever push me too far, I'll...

Old Li grew angrier the more he thought about it, but he was helpless in the face of his two closest relatives.

A sound came from outside. Old Li turned his head and saw his second son and Zhao Tiezhu each carrying a roll of things into the yard.

"Second brother, what are you carrying?"

Li Zhe placed the plastic film on the ground and tore open the outer packaging. "This is the greenhouse film I bought."

Old Li walked over and examined it carefully. "This plastic film isn't cheap, is it? How much did it cost?"

"Two thousand four hundred." Li Zhe did not hide anything.

Old Li was stunned.

When he came to his senses, Zhao Tiezhu had already left, leaving only Li Zhe in the yard. "Second brother, can this plastic film still be returned?"

"No."

Old Li closed his eyes and felt a pain in his chest.

It took him a long time to come to his senses. He went straight back into the house and came out wearing a blue polyester jacket and a straw hat.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Li Zhe was a little unsure of what to do when he saw his father's reaction.

Old Li snorted and said irritably, "Go to the fields and pick out a site for your son to build a greenhouse."

Li Zhe smiled and said, "Dad, you're still the best to me."

"Good my ass! All you do is bully me. If you're so tough, go and argue with your mother."

“This isn’t bullying. I just think you have better judgment and more experience than my mother. You’re more open to new things.” “Don’t flatter me,” Old Li said irritably. “Go call your brother. We need to tell him about this. Let’s meet in the fields.”

Li Weidong's home isn't far, but it's not on the same route as the land, so he has to take a slight detour.

Li Weidong's house is newly built, with red brick walls and an iron gate. It's not particularly grand, but it's considered quite nice in the village.

Li Zhe walked to the door, about to call for help, but found the door locked from the outside.

He couldn't help but wonder, it was one thing that his older brother wasn't home, but where were his sister-in-law and niece?

Li Zhe didn't bother to think too much. Before it got dark, he quickly went to the field to select a location for the greenhouse and would inform his older brother later.

Li Zhe's land was in the north of the village. He walked quickly and arrived around the same time as Old Li.

Old Li noticed he was alone. "Why didn't your brother come?"

"The door was locked, and I didn't see anyone at home."

Old Li was also puzzled, "It's not a holiday, and people don't usually visit relatives, so where did the couple go?"

Li Zhe stomped his foot on the ground, leaving a shallow footprint, and said, "The sun is shining brightly today. It's been drying all day, and the ground is half-dry. Should we be able to harvest the corn tomorrow?"

"We can harvest, but a reduced yield is certain." Old Li peeled back the corn husks, looked at the still unripe tender corn, and sighed, "Aren't you afraid the villagers will gossip about you behind your back and call you a spendthrift?"

Li Zhe II, having long passed the age of caring about others' opinions, pointed to a piece of land in front of him and said, "I plan to build a greenhouse on this land, running east-west and facing south; the south side is unobstructed, so it gets more sunlight, and the east, west, and north sides are insulated with thick walls."

Old Li asked, "How high and how thick is the wall?"

"The wall is two meters high, with a 1.5-meter-thick top and a 2.5-meter-thick bottom."

How deep should we dig?

1.3 meters.

Old Li recalled, "Didn't they say it would be one meter deep last time?"

"It's one meter deep, but we first dig out a 30-centimeter layer of topsoil that needs to be backfilled for vegetable planting; the deeper soil is used to build thick walls."

"That makes sense, cultivated soil is very valuable," Old Li sighed. "This project is no small undertaking."

"After the corn harvest, I plan to hire twenty people to work."

Old Li glared at his son, "What a spendthrift! How much money is this going to cost?"

Li Zhe had already calculated that the greenhouse would be 7.5 meters wide, about 60 meters long, and 1.3 meters deep, requiring 585 cubic meters of excavation; three rammed earth walls, each two meters high, would also need to be built. These tasks alone would take about ten days.

After that, you won't need so many people to build the greenhouse. Besides relatives and friends who come to help, hiring five people will be enough.

When relatives and friends come to help, they will feel obligated to ask for money, so they will definitely have to make up for it with food. The cost of labor and food alone will be at least seven or eight hundred. Adding the cost of buying plastic film beforehand, more than half of the six thousand loan will be used up.

"It's quite an expense, Dad. You have more experience, so please give me some advice and see where we can save some money."

Old Li clutched his chest with his right hand, "You brat, you've made my heart ache."

Li Zhe reminded him, "It's on the left."

"Huh?" Old Li didn't hear clearly.

I said the heart is on the left.

"Get out." Seeing that his son was still in the mood to tease him, Old Li was even more furious. What a big heart he had! He really didn't value money.

"Dad, we're harvesting the crops tomorrow. You should go home and get things sorted out first. I'm going to my brother's house to see if he's back yet."

"Your sister-in-law is free tomorrow, so let her go home and cook. I guess we can't count on your mother." Old Li sighed. After dealing with the younger one, he still had to go back and put on a smiling face for his wife.

Sigh, being a man is so hard.

(End of this chapter)